Stuck on Stupid

The award for the best line from a book: stuck on stupid! The book? The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. The statement was a gentle, loving piece of parental advice shared by the author. When you keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result, you just might be ‘stuck on stupid.’

Here is a personal ‘stuck on stupid’ from a recent business review I did for myself. I multitask. What does that look like? I can be fully engaged writing a blog. A text will come through. I will stop and read the text. I may or may not answer the text. I will continue writing my blog. A message comes in the upper right hand corner of my computer telling me an email has arrived. I will stop, exit my blog and open my Outlook and read the email. I may or may not answer the email. I continue writing my blog. A thought comes into my mind about a business video I should review. I decide that the video lesson does not warrant my full attention. I make myself believe I can continue to write my blog, listening to the video presentation in the background. I am wrong.

Allowing for all that multitasking is causing the writing of the blog to take a minimum of 3x longer.

Here is the worst part. I enjoy writing blogs. I don’t enjoy all the minutia of linking sites, adding photos and such, but I really enjoy writing the blog. My multitasking is actually taking away the joy of writing the blog. I am allowing myself to be so fragmented, I do not build up the feeling of joy I usually experience when I write the blog. Instead I am thinking of so many different things, I am not getting satisfaction from any one thing.

That is what it means to be stuck on stupid.

When you know better you do better. Clearly this is something I needed to teach so I would learn. Be brave and don’t get stuck on stupid.

Pick one area of your business life. Thoroughly review something that appears to be a challenge. Be honest with yourself. Is there something you are doing again, and again, and again that might be suggesting you are ‘stuck on stupid?’

Andrea Goeglein is part organizational psychologist, part entrepreneur, and all about success—your success.
She understands both the pressures you face and the dreams that inspire you.
Andrea merges her experience as a business owner with her training in Positive Psychology to provide effective, efficient and challenging personal development products and services. She combines an emphasis on objective assessment with an approach that is always powered by your spirit and guided by your goals. Her professional development offerings are based in theory and backed by direct business knowledge.